Large vehicle wash bay...

[sjb]

Greetings... as a 17 year rookie in the SS car wash game, with an 8 bay wash in Atlanta, I am working on a new gig for all the large vehicles that want to use my wash, but we can not easily accommodate them due to their sizes. Specifically the food trucks, custom buses, occasional boats, etc. Sooo... I am in the process of honky rigging bay #8 with 35 foot hoses for the wand and the foam brush. The goal will be to sell them our tokens worth $2 each (3 minutes and 20 seconds of washing bliss) so they don't spend all their time pumping in quarters. I am certainly willing to sell them tokens in advance with an increasing discount value. The signage will be crucial, (not that anybody reads them anyways) and the marketing of this new product offering.

So, my question is besides the signage, guerrilla and SM marketing endeavors, have you already done this, and what else would you do to enhance this new channel...?

A bi product of this endeavor is that we are now offering and attracting the food trucks businesses to set up in front of the wash, and paying us small site location fees.

Thanks in advance for your ideas and suggestions!
sjb

 

[MEP001]

If you do this, be prepared to have to either monitor the bay to keep out dump trucks and rigs, or to clean lots of mud and grease after them. I've run a couple washes with a tall bay, and it's a job in itself to keep just that bay clean. On the plus side, they're willing to pay whatever you want to charge to use it.

 

[2Biz]

Here is a picture of my truck bay. It has an 8" I-Beam arch with 14-15' of clearance to the boom. Even the tallest 18 Wheeler can get under it. The Fire Dept and Life Squads also keep it busy. I do get some farm equipment occasionally and muddy trucks...But for the most part, they keep the mess in the truck bay where it belongs....Maybe this will give you some ideas?

 

[JGinther]

Not sure of your budget, but I would look into a card system with fleet capabilities over the tokens. We used to have token packages and a few liked the simplicity, but most decision makers in charge of the fleets despise their drivers and think everyone of them steals at every opportunity. If you can send a bill monthly with usage and times assigned to drivers, the managers go for it every time. Our truck bays are especially loved by the tow truck guys - we have 11 tow truck companies alone. We have got no heat from telling any fleet company that may leave muddy messes that there will be a 15.00 fee added to the card for excessive mud. We now have 7 oilfield accounts that spend between 4 and 6 thousand a month - much of it mud charges. It pays for the attendant, the pumping, and then some....(although you probably have to be in oilfield heaven for this to work). Our fleet billing now accounts for 9% of our gross across all of our sites. Of course, we have to run that end of the business as a professional vendor now: we have to answer calls, assign new cards to employees, cancel broken cards, etc.; but it is very worth it for us.

 

[Stuart]

I have an RV bay and I get much more than RV,s. (I knew I would) I get dump trucks, tractor/trailers, tow trucks, farm tractors, parking lot cleaners. Stay on top of the cleaning and tell them to clean after making their mess. It can be a good source of business but it can cost you more in upkeep.